Tidikelt (also known as Tidikelt Tamazight, Tamazight or Tidikelt Berber) is a

Zenati The Zenati languages are a branch of the Northern Berber language family of North Africa. They were named after the medieval Zenata Berber tribal confederation. They were first proposed in the works of French linguist Edmond Destaing (1915) (19 ...

Berber language spoken in

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , religi ...

. It is one of the Mzab–Wargla languages. Tidikelt is spoken in the northwest of Tamanrasset Province, including in

In Salah District In Salah is a district in Tamanrasset Province, Algeria. It was named after its capital, In Salah (Tamanrasset Province). According to the 2008 census, it has a population of 39,167. Municipalities The district is further divided into 2 municipa ...

. Tidikelt Tamazight has two dialects; Tidikelt and Tit. Tidikelt Tamazight is considered to be an

endangered language An endangered language or moribund language is a language that is at risk of disappearing as its speakers die out or shift to speaking other languages. Language loss occurs when the language has no more native speakers and becomes a " dead lang ...

, nearly

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

, with only 1,000 speakers of the language and decreasing.

Classification

Tidikelt Tamazight is part of the

Berber Berber or Berbers may refer to: Ethnic group * Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa * Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages Places * Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile People with the surname * Ady Berber (1913–196 ...

branch of the Afroasiatic family.

History

The northern region of Africa was, at one point in history, was primarily inhabited by

Berbers , image = File:Berber_flag.svg , caption = The Berber ethnic flag , population = 36 million , region1 = Morocco , pop1 = 14 million to 18 million , region2 = Algeria , pop2 ...

. The name Berber comes from ''Barbari'', which was used by the Romans. ''Barbari'' is a Latin word meaning Barbarians. Their tribes could be found across the northern region. However, when the Muslims invaded and took over the northern region of Africa, they spread the

Arabic language Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

, which eventually led to the diminished use of Tidikelt Tamazight. As the Arabic language spread, so did the religion of

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

. Considering that the Arabic language and Islam were very closely related, and many of the Berbers were converting to Islam, Tidikelt Tamazight began to fade.

Geographic distribution

There are about 1,000 speakers of Tidikelt Tamazight. Most of these speakers can be found in the northwest of Tamanrasset Province, Algeria. There are Tidikelt Tamazight speakers also found in Western Sahara, Morocco and Tunisia.

Status

Tidikelt Tamazight is endangered, nearly extinct.

References

Tidikelt Tamazight ia (n.d.). Retrieved May 01, 2017, from http://globalrecordings.net/en/langcode/tia. {{Berber languages Berber languages Extinct languages of Africa Riff languages